In case all those stories about how these two are getting along well didn’t send the message, Ben Affleck threw his sweater to Jennifer Garner to wear on Sunday. Apparently they were running errands and the way E! explains it, they exchanged the sweater several times. TMZ has the video and multiple outlets are covering the news, along with breathless insider quotes about how Ben and Jen had brunch with their kids and are doing great. It’s the same thing we’ve heard from their camps to date but when even TMZ is asking if they’re back together you have to wonder what’s going on.
In the latest print edition of US Magazine, which has had multiple insider stories from Garner’s camp in the past, there was this little blurb about how these two are now staying in the same house. Remember how Ben was staying in the guest house? Not anymore. An “Affleck pal” tells US “They’ve figured out how to be friends. Ben even stays in the room next to Jen’s. This is their new normal.”
There are all sorts of quotes from Garner promoting her Miracles from Heaven movie, out this weekend. She talks about the themes in the film, faith and personal trials, and the health of her children. She also explained, to E!, why she decided to start taking her kids to church in time to promote the film. (My words.) “I hadn’t been participating in giving them some kind of ground under them in the way that my parents had done for me. I just expected them to have it because I do.” I think children get that from their parents in so many ways other than religion, but she’s just giving her talking points to promote the film I guess. Oh and Kaiser and I still have that bet that Ben is going to go to church with Jen before Batman v. Superman opens.
photos credit: WENN and FameFlynet
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Um…. call me crazy but it sounds like this woman is taking her children to church in order to promote a movie?!!!!?
Ridiculous and shallow and attention hungry and just plain nuts. She’s really grinding on my last nerve lately, fawning over this d*ckbag Afleck who should be kicked to the curb, and trying to keep this bizarre “Angel-down-to-earth-mama” image she’s been cultivating for years.
Exhausting.
Doesn’t she go to church with her kids every weekend? If Ben shows up to promote his movie, that’s on him.
This article quotes her explaining why she started taking her kids to church in time to promote the film. Her, not Ben.
Dysfunction at its worst. Feel for those kids.
They’re going to reconcile. They’re both too fame hungry to call it a day. They can get *YEARS* of free press for all their projects talking about how their marriage overcame infidelity. They announce a reconciliation any day now and it’s bonus press for both of their films.
If im being too cynical, forgive me-these two trigger much side-eye with me.
No not cynical but more a realist. I couldn’t agree more.
That movie looks cloying AF
Super cloying. hot house roses and incense in the back of your throat cloying. For me that movie is the equivalent of a cinematic emetic. Just, bleurgh.
It sure looks like a Lifetime TV movie to me. I’m surprised it got made into a feature film. Although, it is based on a book that sold well, and the faith-based audience will come out for it. So it will turn a pretty good profit.
Miracles will be out in 3,000 theatres. I kid you not! They posted it on their site.
Real question. Why is Jennifer Garner always running errands? In LA, the city of traffic, that seems like actual torture. It’s not like she pretends she doesn’t have help: nannies, ASSISTANTS. Can’t they go pick up the milk and eggs for her? Is it just about being photographed every single dang day?
I think the help is hiding in the back of the car.
And I think she only does it to help her brand.
Maybe she likes doing things for herself. Or she’s just not an indoor kind of person. Just because you have the means to get others to do things for doesn’t mean you always want that kind of help for everything in their lives.
People complain about celebs having a bunch of help and not be able to do simple things on their own, but when one does take care of their own errands they get ragged on. They just can’t win.
This. She isnt a sedentary person. Sure she could send the assistant or chef but that would leave her doing what exactly at home? Its not like she is a party girl or a glambot, a squad girl or even super career focused, which are pretty much the various ways female celebs pass their days.
Exactly. I had a housekeeper for about a year and a half, and I never got over the discomfort of not doing it myself. She was a wonderful person, and it was great having the help, but after we moved, I knew I just would never be a “hired help having” kind of person.
I like doing it myself.
Good question especially since you can see A listers all over west LA, Malibu, Santa Monica etc running errands and no paps. New York is the same. Assistants do a lot of things but celebs like to feel normal too and not isolated. Oddly enough they like to run into each other and frequent the same places and still no paps.
Earth Mama pap stroller likes her image but she has overplayed it and public opinion about showing off celebrity offspring for attention has changed.
Ugh. This Ben Jen will they or won’t they divorce saga is exhausting. Their PR is exhausting. I kinda want both of them to disappear for awhile.
It’s exhausting, but the PR has nothing to do with it. It’s over. But the tabloids don’t want to believe it.
Not reconciled, not going to. She went on record and said that he hasn’t touched her in almost a year. That’s a bad, broken marriage. These public displays are simply damage control. She gets to play the saint and he gets to promote a warm, fuzzy feeling before the biggest movie of his career opens.
I agree. It’s over. It took Ben forever to get out of this marriage the way it’s going, and I’m sure he’s seen his children go through a lot of pain regarding it and now coming out the other side of it. He’s not going back just to do it all over again to his family.
And they both came in different cars. It looked like something with the kids, as they were in martial arts outfits. Both went on their way afterwards. She took the kids to some foot race or walk that she was working in and he wasn’t there.
In this case, I consider it not even them calling the paps. Just another day where a pap catches celebs out doing their thing. Matt Damon, who lives close by, said paps sit outside the Affleck residence all the time waiting to catch them leaving to follow.
Although, I agree with you. Often, they have been alerted since the breakup for damage control.
Yep. The fact that they went straight to announcing the divorce instead of just a separation makes it clear they’re never getting back together. Once it’s over, it’s over.
And the PR continues. I agree that he’ll go to church with her just before the movie or if the movie doesn’t have a big opening.
They’re so obvious these days. Just wait until one of them starts dating someone else; I’ll bet he won’t be staying in the room beside her then. lol
They are never ever ever getting back together. Oh, Ben..you for sure got taken to church-just not literally. LOL. “They shared a sweater”! ooh, sounds like he might pin her next. Must not be any nannies around.
Oh, Kri, thank you for this. As I read through the article, the only thing I could think was, “EGAD! A SWEATER! I am rivited. Please, tell me more about the sweater.”
I think publicly pretending as transparent as this is far worse than just being honest about it and splitting up already. Enough!
She is looking good. Fit and sporty. I approve.
Jen looks much healthier than Ben.
Ben looks pale, strung-out, and unhealthy.
All the PR spin is to preserve their lifestyle and careers, not protect their children.
I don’t understand why Ben would go to church before his movie comes out. He doesn’t have to court religious people for his movie like she does.
I went to church as a child. Not so much as an adult, but doing so gave me a foundation upon which to live my life. Jen was probably adrift after the divorce announcement and looking for something to steady her. Church was it for her. While I don’t think it’s PR for her, I wouldn’t put it past Ben to use his family once again for positive PR for BvS.
While I am out of church now, I too had a great experience as a child going to Sunday School and even at a few low points in my adult life attending church. I loved Sunday School as a child, though. So it sounds hypocritical, but I wanted the same for mine to experience that even though I no longer attend church weekly nor have any desire to be involved in church. My sister only goes to church on holidays and her daughter goes to Sunday School then. She told my sister and then us how she really loves Sunday School and wishes her mom would take her every Sunday. My sister felt like a bad mother when she heard this, that her daughter was craving that experience, and we offered to take her and drop her off and pick her up with ours. I also get giving them that foundation at an inclusive church you feel comfortable with and then letting them decide as they grow up.
I do the same. All my kids have gone to Sunday school since pre-K and summer bible school when they were little. I pray everyday and rely on my faith (Catholic) but I’m horrid about going to church very often. But the kids have been exposed and can decide as adults what is for them.
Yeah. She’s just stoking a career for herself as an Aniston-style ex-wife. and mini-van sister in arms. Under the circumstances, she’s scorching the earth for Affeck’s next romance as well.
LOL Well, Jennifer Garner is going to be 44 next month and needs to capitalize big time right now as she comes back after being in smaller roles and taking care of babies.
She’s no dummy, and I’m sure she is setting everything up careerwise for herself. Her commercial endorsements bring her big money, I assume, and I imagine her brand that way will get bigger. She will get more movie offers and take advantage but those offers will die off as she ages, and she’s not a big screen presence nor a great actor. I expect in three years or so she will go to TV and be on a series after Sam is in school. I think that’s where she shines, on a TV, if a good script.
Yeah, poor woman who is Ben’s next visible girlfriend. He might want to keep her on the down low for quite a while or until Jen has a boyfriend.
Unless the new girlfriend is famous, too. Then she probably won’t care. Both Ben and Jen have to publicly move on with other people at some point. I’m very curious to see who they’ll eventually end up with. I see Jennifer remaining single for quite some time. Her public story will be that she’s focusing on herself and her kids and providing stability, blah blah. Her next husband will be someone not in the entertainment industry, or at least not in front of the camera. Him? For some reason I feel like it’ll be some 25-year-old C-lister and he’ll probably have more kids. Emily Rataletters has a boyfriend but it wouldn’t surprise me if they started dating. He did handpick her for a pretty substantial role in a Fincher movie.
@Lila, but she will be famous to some degree. Ben doesn’t follow Matt’s lead and go out with a “civilian” as he calls it. He falls for his leading ladies and then complains about the attention it receives. I see him with a 30-something, between 30 to 40 years old, who has an edge to her. someone who wraps him around her finger, stronger-willed, not another adoring sweet Jen.
Jennifer, I have no clue who she will go out with next, whether in the industry or out.
I still wonder if Olga Kurylenko, his co-star from four years ago is still single. She had a boyfriend but broke up a year and a half ago. He was older than her, an actor. She likes older men. She’s extremely independent. She doesn’t want children IDK, but loved her ex-boyfriend’s daughter, and is very involved in children’s charities.
She’s stunning and a good age, 36.
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@Jayna I think Olga has a young child with a boyfriend and they are still together.
You can already read about a camp of rising defenders here, defending her for wanting to tell “her own story.”
She’s so committed to maintaining her dressed down Mom look, that any single woman is going to look like a superficial interloper. The optics are rigged that way. (Not to mention Ben’s taste for strange.)
Olga K had a baby last fall and lives in London I believe with the baby’s dad. Many here will recall Lainey’s blind item from a few years ago saying she and Ben hooked up when filming To The Wonder. Jen found out and he had to do a lot of crawling to get back in her graces (allegedly).
I agree with @Jayna re Ben’s next gf. Definitely will be older (over 30) with a career and some fame of her own. No yacht girls or VS models for him, not in public at least. He’ll want a ‘showpiece’ on his arm, in the sense that it’ll be someone respected in her field – someone he wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen in public with his kids.
The pr moves in the run-up to their movies have been exhausting to track. It’s been how many months of gossip before BvsS? I will be watching for the denouement after everything is released and the pr isn’t needed anymore. That’s where the real story kicks in.
They did the exact same thing when Ben was campaigning for Argo.
Suddenly there were daily photos of the whole family going to the church, coming back from the pumpkin patch, happily hiking etc.. Ben had a constipated smile on his face and Jen was smirking like crazy, being all like “SEE? MY HUSBAND SHOWS UP FOR THINGS & STUFF!”.
They milked the “lovely Hollywood couple with adorable kids” cow as much as they could and then he got the damn Oscar and he couldn’t even try to pretend during his whiny speech:
“We work very hard at our marriage”… Oh dear God Ben, WE KNOW, trust me.
Now BATFLECK OF DOOM is out in less than 3 weeks and they started as usual with plenty of time in advance.
They are the worst type of fame-whores.
There are so many celebrities that live in LA with their families and have successful careers without pimping themselves like these two do. If this is their choice, so be it, but it’s weird.
Neither of them is out of work or close to it, they have lots of money and connections, trying so hard to sell a movie (whether it’s his or hers) that you parade your kids and marital affairs in front of the world is, again, weird and vulgar.
I don’t know of another celebrity couple that is doing what they are doing to sell their movies and their careers. Maybe George Clooney and Amal, but they still have a little bit more class.
Still milking this story, CB? Sad. It’s OVER!
Speaking of new girlfriend, who was that woman who was in Canada with Affleck. Could it be Gal Gadot?
We never found out. The security camera pic is only of him but there was apparently a woman there, too.
Per Layne it was a brunette
I often see the phrase “Ben wanted out” tossed about. I furrow my brow when I read it. Did he? The divorce laws are quite easy if that were the case. I don’t think he did. I do think he just wanted the home and family to be there when he wanted it but complete freedom otherwise.
In the struggle over that, because I think that wasn’t ok with Jennifer, he started acting out of frustration and ended up doing serious harm to his wife and family and his own image.
She’s done. I don’t think she would consider going back into that situation now she’s tasted freedom. I cannot imagine how painful it was to be in that place for so long.
They are being good in front of the kids, and I do believe it is for the kids, at least for her. Him, I think is a lot about repair still and the “are they back together” stories are stirred by his camp to keep hope alive until the filing actually happens, which was indicated to be late March. He does need it to appear all is forgiven to stir good will for himself, plus the ego thing…
Yeah, I think they are friendly for the kids, but obviously not close. She said it was sad when he started filming his movie in the fall, because it was the first movie she wasn’t a part of. That means they aren’t really talking about their lives with one another other than the children if she was totally out of the loop with his directing that movie and Ben not using her as a sounding board, not discussing the day’s events with the movie with her like before.
I would like to believe that this is the case – that they are truly moving on – but I have to admit, I question it at this point. Back when he started filming Live by Night, they seemed in a very different, much more strained place., so it makes sense she wasn’t involved. They look a lot different when they’re out together these days. While she said she hadn’t been kissed in 8 months, that VF interview took place weeks to months ago, and I feel like she definitely left some doors open there – it didn’t seem like a definitive close to me. I guess you could argue that they have gotten to a better stage now where they’re able to be much more “friendly”, but moving into the house and sleeping in the next bedroom? Sharing a sweater? Doing things together on such a daily basis? And she still seems uncomfortable talking about herself in interviews, even as a parent – she seems to still phrase everything as “we” and keep Ben in her conversations. I don’t know. I’ll believe it when I see the filing.
@JoJo, they’ve never said they had bedrooms next to each other. Gossip rags did. And let’s face it a lot of stuff that came out from gossip raps were false. It was said their house is for sale before. It’s not. On and on. Besides that, Ben is gone a lot. I guarantee he has his place at the hotel still. And they have the rental down the street, Brook’s home. Jennifer has been seen in New York, etc. If anyone thinks they are really living together, it’s more like sometimes he’s there in the home and the kids have access to him, not having to go to a new home yet.
They’ve been seen a lot because it was Sam’s birthday and different things out with the kids and the Oscars happened where they both attended separately. I don’t buy that they are together at all. The sweater? Well, the kids had on martial arts clothes. They both attended something together with the kids. She was then spotted later at a foot race benefit with the kids. Maybe it was chilly and she asked for his sweater as she headed off. It’s not that big of a deal. The one group of photos, out having dinner after Sam’s day birthday, Ben looked miserable. I’m sure either the kids or Jen insisted he come.
Ben is not in love with Jen. He loves her. He isn’t IN love with her. He’s not going back. If he did, why? He would want out again in another six months, and then his poor kids.
But you are right, she has always on promo used Ben and the kids in her anecdotal stories. I think that is going to be a hard habit to break, but she will. Or Ben will do it for her when he has a new girlfriend. Or she will be like Goopy, who is still talking about Chris like he’s still hers to talks about, even though they both are dating other people and have been for a long time.
I really dislike JG talking about her kids and about Ben. She sounds pathetic. Personal is personal and business is business. There are so many topics to discuss out there. She needs to change her conversation soon. She is smart so she needs to figure it out soon.
@Jayna – I hope you are right. Re: the bedroom situation, yeah, I think it came out in US Weekly and then the DM reported on it. They or someone in their camps has been quick to deny all of these rumors via GC, so I guess I was expecting they’d refute it:
Re: Ben, I agree, but he seems weak to me, so I could see him staying out of need for that stability. But again, I hope you’re right. They need to move on at this point.
His moobs distract me….
LOL Yeah. What happened to this Ben?
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I think he will get back with Jennifer Lopez.Just watch n see
Ben is such a weak character. I swear, he’s addicted to everything. He even seems to be competing with Jennifer to see whose boobs fill out that shirt the best.
Take care of your children instead of parading them in front of the Paps. I certainly hope they were not created to bring you positive press.
Jennifer…I’m talking to you!!
I’m pondering the 8 months she mentioned in the VF article. Wakefield started filming In early December per IMDB and photos on web, and 8 months before that would be April, right? What happened in April…a photo in Canada? CDAN (I know) had a blind in May of last year about Ben having been kicked out of the house and the kids were upset Then, wasn’t the Nanny hired in late April or so and Ben was living at the hotel. The words angry revenge just come to mind. Toxic environment for sure.
Lainey said the woman in Canada was brunette and she was waiting for her big moment before she takes her spot beside Affleck. So it is either Gal Gadot, the nannyho or another famous to be person. It was in April and Affleck was not wearing his ring anymore. He wanted out of that marriage so bad. He should file soon.
There was also Twitter about that time about him with a brunette in the Bahamas. Some one remarked about seeing Ben and Jen being cuddly on the deck somewhere down there but couldn’t believe that Jen was smoking. Someone replied back that she didn’t and the person seen with him was not his wife. So sounds like he made good use of their house down there.
There was a blind about him being with one of his co stars in the Wonder and that he got her pregnant and a lot of covering up had to done to keep that under the rug. It was either Olga K or Rachael MacAdams? How many has there been? Tiger Woods range?
I can’t believe all this nonsense about someone loaning someone else a sweater. This is middle school stuff.
Maybe the thing with the brunette in Canada is already over. Remember that anonymous lawsuit that someone filed against an actor in Detroit who gave her an STD? Maybe he ended things with her and she tried to get some revenge.